


Reunion

by Lady_in_Red



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, F/M, Ficlet, Missing Scene, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_in_Red/pseuds/Lady_in_Red
Summary: Missing scene from the season 7 finale. Brienne arrives at the Red Keep ahead of the meeting in the Dragonpit.





	Reunion

Their armor didn’t shine. It gleamed dully, as if the plate soaked up the sun rather than reflect it. Acres of armored men in perfect formation. Eunuchs, supposedly, in crisp lines, spines rigid as steel. So many of them, unmoving in the hours since they’d marched across the Blackwater Rush, the bones and ashes of hundreds of Lannister soldiers crunching under their boots.

“You think they piss themselves?”

Jaime shook himself from his reverie and turned his weary eyes on Bronn. “What?”

Bronn tipped his head toward the Unsullied massed beyond the city walls, a greasy hank of dark hair falling over his forehead. “Been standing there for hours, and not one has moved. Even cockless wonders need to take a piss sometime.”

Jaime couldn’t say he’d ever really thought about it, but then he’d never demanded that his men stand in formation for hours on end. His father would’ve approved. Anything to make his men look fiercer and more menacing. 

Bronn scratched idly at his wispy beard. “You know how they train them?” Jaime shook his head, so Bronn continued. “They start when they’re kids. They make them kill dogs with their bare hands. When they’re older, they’re taken to the slave market to buy a baby. They have to kill it in front of the mother.” Bronn spat over the wall. “And a few thousand of them are standing right there, ready to slice us to bits.”

For a split second, Jaime saw Cersei holding their baby--and one of the Unsullied snatching it out of her arms, dashing its head against the wall as the Mountain had once done to Elia Martell and her son. The Targaryen girl might enjoy that. 

Footsteps behind him interrupted Jaime’s train of thought. He turned to face the young Lannister soldier approaching. It seemed they were all young these days. Young and green.

“Milord, the party from Winterfell has arrived.” The soldier’s voice cracked a little as he spoke, and his armor was clearly too large for his slight frame. 

“Winterfell?” Jaime echoed. “Have you told my sister?” Cersei had insisted on inviting the other houses to this meeting with the Targaryen girl, reasoning she could ransom them back to their houses or execute them if they failed to bend the knee. He’d never expected Sansa Stark to be so stupid as to return south, even with her bastard brother coming here too. He couldn’t imagine that Brienne had supported this plan. 

The soldier shook his head.

“Don’t. I’ll deal with them. Escort them to my quarters.” With luck, Jaime might get Sansa Stark out of the city and back onto the King’s Road before Cersei knew she’d been there.

 

* * *

  
She was draped in furs and cloaked in heavy black, her back to him when Jaime entered his chambers. He was sick of black, sick of mourning, and despite Cersei’s prodding continued to wear his crimson and gold armor. 

“You need to leave. Now,” he said as soon as the door closed behind him. There was no time for courtesy or diplomacy. Qyburn’s little birds would carry word of their arrival to the queen soon enough, if they hadn’t already.

Brienne turned to face him, blue eyes wide with surprise. “But we just arrived.”

“You never should have come. What were you thinking?” His eyes swept the room, noting the saddlebags piled in a corner and young Podrick standing awkwardly beside them. “Where is Sansa?”

Brienne’s brow furrowed. “She sent me in her stead. Did you not receive her raven?”

A chill slid down Jaime’s spine. “No.” But Cersei had, he had no doubt about that. And she would like nothing better than to take her revenge against Sansa through Brienne. 

“You thought I would bring Lady Sansa here?” Of course she wouldn’t. She had every right to take offense that he would even consider it.

“No, but you can’t stay here. It’s not safe.” Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen would have guards, allies, and possibly dragons. Brienne had only Podrick Payne at her back.

Podrick’s hand dropped to the hilt of his dagger, but Brienne did not move. “You’re here.”

The trust in her words was a knife between Jaime’s ribs, sharp and shameful. “I’ll be no use to you if Cersei orders the Mountain to cut you all down.” 

“Would she?” Her jaw firmed with resolve and purpose. She’d lay her life down for the bastard king, and he’d never even have to ask her to do it. Stupid woman. 

“That depends on what the Targaryen girl says.” Jaime dropped heavily into a chair. “I saw what she can do with one dragon, Brienne. She destroyed an entire wagon train, killed hundreds of men. What do you think she could do with three dragons?”

Brienne eyed a chair but remained standing. “If she wanted to burn the city, she would have done it already.”

Tyrion had talked her out of that, but how long would Tyrion’s words restrain her darker impulses? Not long if Cersei refused their demands. “You can’t risk that. Who will protect Sansa Stark if you and her brother die today?” Jaime’s gaze caught on Oathkeeper still strapped at her hip. The blade’s twin rested against his, but neither blade would be of use against a dragon. 

Her broad mouth remained in a stubborn line. “She is not alone, Ser Jaime. And she asked me to witness this meeting, to speak for her if necessary.”

That was a terrible idea. Brienne and her rigid notions of honor would be eaten alive among the wolves and lions and dragons. He looked away, caught the discomfort in Podrick’s gaze and wished that they were alone, if only for a moment. But perhaps it was better that they weren’t. “Stay here until the others arrive. I will send Bronn to escort you to the Dragonpit. Don’t go with anyone but him.”

“You trust him?” she asked skeptically.

Jaime shrugged. “More than anyone else in the keep.” That wasn’t saying much, but it was all the protection he could offer if she refused to listen to reason. 

Brienne nodded, satisfied with that for the moment.

Jaime took one more long look at her. The heavy cloak on her shoulders, draped with a thick fur, made her look even broader, her fair skin and flaxen hair stark against the dark wool and leather. Beneath, she still wore the armor he’d given her. It would serve her well against a blade, but against dragon fire it would be no match. He’d seen the remains of his men, nothing left but ash and chunks of bones in greasy, soot-stained armor. 

“He’ll help you leave the city, if you ask.” Jaime looked directly in her wide blue eyes. “You should ask, Brienne. I don’t want to see you in the Dragonpit.”

As he turned to leave, he hoped that the uncertainty in her eyes meant that she would listen.

  
  



End file.
